Upheaval
by starlit seductress
Summary: Sooner or later, Bender would break Claire's heart. Andrew knew it, and he had a feeling it was going to be sooner.
1. Chapter 1

"Whatcha lookin' at, Clarke?", Neil Baker asked his friend, who seemed to be hypnotized by some unknown spectacle across the cafeteria. Andrew Clarke, a forgotten spoonful of chili still held in his hand, ignored him. Neil rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"Yo, Clarke!", he bellowed in the other boy's ear. Andrew jumped, spilling the chili down the front of his wrestling jacket, then scowled at his friend. "What's the deal, man?!", he yelled. "What the hell was that for?"

Neil shrugged. "You weren't listening to me. What were you lookin' at that was so damn fascinating?"

It was Andrew's turn to shrug. "Nothing. I guess I just spaced out." He looked down at his tray, rather than at Neil, as he said it, and Neil narrowed his eyes in consideration. Andrew was definitely not telling him something. Neil watched as Andrew turned his head again to stare intently across the room, and followed his gaze.

Andrew scowled as he watched John Bender speak something into Claire Standish's ear. Claire giggled. Bender said something else, and this time Claire smacked him over the head, but she was still smiling. Andrew shook his head in utter bewilderment. What could she possibly see in that worthless piece of shit? Bender didn't have a decent molecule in his body, and sooner or later, he would break Claire's heart. Andrew knew it, and he had a feeling it was going to be sooner. It would almost serve her right, for being so stupid. Almost. But Andrew cared about Claire, and didn't truly wish her any pain, even if she had brought it upon herself. He watched Claire and Bender walk out of the cafeteria, grimacing as he noted their clasped hands.

Finally he turned back to his own table, only to find Neil considering him with an amused, knowing glow in his eyes.

"You wanted to fuck her", he announced triumphantly. "You're mad that she's gone loco and gotten with that delinquent, because you wanted to fuck her yourself."

"Don't be ridiculous", Andrew scowled.

"Hey, there's plenty more out there", Neil said consolingly, ignoring Andrew's honest denial as he gestured around the cafeteria. "I don't think she's even the hottest one. I mean, look at Angela over there. Just check out those tits!…" Neil continued to ramble on obscenely about the physical merits of their female classmates, not noticing as Andrew got up and left.


	2. Chapter 2

Andrew stalked through the halls of Shermer High School, unmindful of the people he was nearly mowing down in his haste to find Claire. Enough was enough. He had to try to talk some sense into Claire. Finally he spotted Claire at her locker, thankfully alone now.

"What the hell are you doing, Claire?", Andrew hissed in the redhead's ear, making her jump.

"Jesus Christ, Andy, what are _you_ doing? You scared me!", Claire reproached him.

"Well, you're scaring me", Andrew shot back. "For the last _week_, I've watched you and that criminal making out all over the place. I hoped it was just a moment of insanity you'd snap out of, but you haven't. Do you have any idea what you're getting yourself into? What an utterly _stupid _idea this is? Y-you can't do this, Claire!", Andrew finally burst out helplessly, loud enough to draw stares from passerby.

"You don't know anything about him!", Claire exploded. "I don't owe you any explanation anyway. You have no control over me".

Andrew took a slow, deep breath, struggling to calm himself. "I'm worried about you, Claire", he said at last. "You're my friend, and I don't like to see my friends get hurt."

"If you're going to worry about something, worry about what you've done to Allison", Claire snapped, slamming her locker shut and sweeping away, leaving Andrew glaring after her.


	3. Chapter 3

It was as though he had partial amnesia. The idea occurred to Allison as she sat at the edge of the cafeteria, surreptitiously but intently watching Andrew from beneath her wild curtain of black hair. It was as though the day of the detention, and the night following it, had been entirely erased from Andrew's memory. For all intents and purposes, he acted like it. Nobody would know from his behavior that Allison – or Bender or Brian – were anything to him except fellow students whom he occasionally passed in the hall but didn't deign to notice. But Andrew didn't have partial amnesia. Allison scowled to herself and viciously stirred her yogurt. He was a selfish, hypocritical jackass…and a good actor. Allison didn't understand how he could pretend so thoroughly that what had happened between them, hadn't. She was still overrun with shivers whenever she remembered that night following the detention…

_She'd met him at a local park, just before midnight. He'd called her house and asked her to meet him, sounding serious and almost...nervous? He'd offered to pick her up, but she'd insisted on walking. She'd ambled onto the grass and found him sitting on a bench, head resting on clasped hands, looking pensive and vaguely troubled. He'd looked up at her suddenly as she approached, and that intensely fascinated look came into his eyes. The same one from that afternoon, the one that made her shiver with wild, slightly fearful anticipation. She'd sat down next to him, close but not too close. _

"_Hi", she'd said softly. _

"_Hi", he'd responded, still staring at her_

_He kissed her suddenly, his arms coming around her firmly but gently, and she'd clung to him in trembling exhilaration. Somehow they'd eventually made their way into the backseat of Andrew's car, parked nearby, and continued their frantic exploration of each other's bodies. They hadn't gone all the way, but they'd done things Alison had never done before, things that had made her gasp with sheer, sensate euphoria. She really had been lying about the nymphomaniac thing. In fact, she actually had very little experience with boys, which made what they were doing now all the more fascinating for Alison. He'd insisted on driving her home. As he'd pulled into her driveway, he'd kissed her one last time, hard and rough, and stared at her with the most burning gaze yet, then whispered, "Bye." _

At least he hadn't made any promises or suggestions of future contact, Alison thought. It was the only thing to be said for him. He hadn't made any false promises that would have immediately been broken. But Alison had hoped. Stupidly, idiotically, she'd hoped he'd call her again, or come by her house, or at least stop to talk to her in the hall, although she'd known nothing was certain. But she'd thought just maybe...how stupid, how naive she'd been to believe that somebody like him could stay genuinely interested in someone like her. It wasn't fair that she was, even now, almost two months later, still so overcome with anguish at the memory of their brief, rapturous encounter, that some desperate, senseless, masochistic part of her wanted him still, while Andrew talked and laughed with his idiot jock buddies, oblivious to her existence. Nobody noticed the sudden gleam of tears in her eyes, because her unruly mane of hair covered them – not that anybody was likely to be looking at her in any case. Alison got up and shuffled slowly out of the cafeteria, shooting one last hateful glance at Andrew. "Fuck you, Andrew Clarke", she whispered almost inaudibly, and then she was gone.


End file.
